The power dissipation of electronic components within networking equipment (such as routers and/or switches) has increased significantly over the last several years. For example, the power dissipation of certain Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) in network devices has recently increased to more than 200 W. The power dissipation of memory devices in network devices has also increased several fold. As a result of these increases in power dissipation, thermal management has become more critical and challenging. To ensure the long-term reliability and performance of the individual components and the overall devices, operation temperatures of the individual components must be regulated and/or maintained within a certain temperature range.
To maintain the operating temperatures of those components within that temperature range, one of the most common and effective solutions is to attach heatsinks to the components. These heatsinks absorb, conduct, and/or dissipate heat away from the components and thus limit their maximum operating temperatures. Such heatsinks may make physical contact with the individual components included on a circuit board by way of screws, spacers, and/or standoffs that mount to holes formed into the circuit board.
In the past, these traditional heatsink mounting techniques may have sufficed because the physical positioning needs of the heatsinks were less demanding, stringent, and/or precise. For example, even though variance existed in the dimensions of the mounting holes and screws, this variance usually had an insignificant effect on the heat-dissipation performance of the heatsinks. However, the effect of such variance may become more significant when multiple silicon dies are attached in close proximity to one another on the same component substrate.
As a specific example, a high-power ASIC die may be positioned next to a memory die on the same substrate. The high-power ASIC die and the memory die may have different maximum operating temperatures from one another. As a result, the high-power ASIC die and the memory die may need to be thermally isolated from one another by using two separate heatsinks. Since, in this example, the high-power ASIC die and the memory die need to be thermally isolated from one another, the precise alignment of the heatsinks relative to one another may be critical to the performance and/or reliability of the device.
Unfortunately, traditional heatsink mounting techniques may enable a heatsink mounted to an ASIC die to be misaligned enough to make physical contact with a neighboring heatsink mounted to one or more memory dice. By making such contact, the heatsink mounted to the ASIC die may no longer be thermally isolated from the heatsink mounted to the memory dice. Accordingly, the heatsinks may effectively form a thermal bridge that facilitates heat transfer from one side to another (e.g., from the hotter side to the cooler side), thereby threatening the performance and/or functionality of the memory dice.
The instant disclosure, therefore, identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved apparatuses, systems, and methods for precise heatsink alignment on circuit boards.